The Apprentice's Apprentice

Part 23

Cora resettled herself and turned her full attention back to the egg. She mentally reached for the cushion and began slowly lowering it back to the table. She siphoned off a little bit of magic as she did so, but not so much as to make the egg drop. She'd only done that once before she'd learned her lesson.

The egg touched lightly down onto the glass top of the rattan table, rolling slightly until it came into contact with Cora's shield. She exhaled in a sigh. Carefully she reached for the warmth still wrapped around the egg and began dragging it back inside of herself. She did her best to get every little speck. Warren had said he'd eventually try to teach her to see magic, though he wasn't sure if she'd be able to do it. She really wished she could now.

Only when Cora felt like she had all she was going to find back inside did she nod at Selena. The older woman returned the nod and sat back into her chair, her index fingers against her lips. Warren stepped up beside Cora and closed a hand around her shoulder, squeezing it. When she looked up, he smiled. She did her best to smile back but the sick feeling in her stomach made it hard. She thought she'd done it right, but what if she'd left too much magic after? Or she hadn't done it fast enough for Selena? There were a hundred different ways she could have messed up and all of them were running through her head on repeat.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour, Selena nodded again. "It seems you've taught her the basics adequately," she said, eyes on Warren. "You may move on to the basic spells if you wish."

He bowed his head. "We will."

"And you, Cora," Selena said, drawing Cora's attention away from trying to sneak a look at Warren's expression. "If you ever tire of his teaching, tell me. I'm only too happy to take over. I would quite enjoy teaching you both the basics."

Warren glared at Selena who smiled wickedly, an expression that put Cora very much in mind of Zoe. Zoe with magic was a scary thought and one she did best to put to rest as she followed a fuming Warren out of the conservatory and towards the library.

He dropped himself into the armchair and stared at the ceiling as Cora gently lowered herself onto the couch. Warren stayed where he was until Cora cleared her throat. When he looked at her, she raised her eyebrows. "I'm fine with not having a lesson today, but if that's what's going to happen, I'd like to go home now."

Warren grimaced. "No, the old hag's finally agreed you've passed the spellcasting basics so it'd be a waste not to get started on the other basic spells. You've pretty much mastered the transference one. I figure we should start with one of you strengths for the next one. I'm thinking defensive, since you're better off being able to protect yourself right from the beginning. With your speciality and depending on how good you are at it, you could probably take attacks from anyone except an offensive mage all day without having to worry."

As always when he spoke about magic, Warren mood improved and he relaxed, finally sitting up and looking at her. Cora hid a smile. Clearly he was a magic geek. She knew that road, if for manga instead of the power they shared. "So what's the spell?" she asked him, glad he was no longer upset. He liked to share his pissiness and she really didn't feel like dealing with it today.

"It's a shield. But not one designed to keep your power in, but rather to deflect outside attacks. Basically you build a wall or a bubble with magic and keep it around you. How you picture and feel the shield is really dependent on the individual mage and their power, so I can't give you too much more direction than that. Especially given your visualization weakness."

Cora rolled her eyes. "You're never going to let me forget that, are you?"

"It's not my fault your weakness happens to be one of my specialities. And one that's really important for doing magic properly."